UNC remembers 'disrespectful' Miami off-glass dunk

March 16, 2013|By Michael Casagrande, Sun Sentinel

GREENSBORO, N.C. — The moment was akin to the high-water mark in Miami's dream season. An 87-61 win over North Carolina already assured, Hurricane Shane Larkin tossed a fast-break pass off the backboard to Kenny Kadji.

The dunk brought Miami Heat stars LeBron James and Dwyane Wade out of their courtside seats on Feb. 9 in the BankUnited Center.

Tar Heel Dexter Strickland also remembers the moment. He wasn't smiling when reminiscing in the North Carolina locker room Saturday's win set up a Miami rematch at 1 p.m. Sunday in the ACC championship game.

"That was disrespectful, man," Strickland said. "It was like they were just playing with us like an all-star game. We have to get back at them."

North Carolina responded by winning eight of its next 10 games to enter Sunday's ACC title game with a 24-9 record. Tar Heel coach Roy Williams reportedly met with his staff in the BankUnited Center locker room to hash out the team's issues before leaving for Chapel Hill.

They went with a smaller lineup that's lost only to Duke in the weeks since the embarrassing loss in Coral Gables.

"It was just hard getting beat like that," Tar Heel Leslie McDonald said. "It was really hard seeing them throw it off the backboard and celebrating like that. No team and no player wants to see that, so it was hard. We always had that picture in our mind and we get a chance to go back and play them again."

Miami also beat the Tar Heels 68-59 in Chapel Hill on Jan. 10 to begin the only regular-season sweep of UNC in program history.